Work & Play

If you don’t follow me on Insta or Twitter (which you totally should), I shared the news that I was selected to be KeyNote speaker at American University’s Washington Semester Program orientation. It was an honor just being there – I would not have expected to be back in Washington so soon!

I spoke to the students about my personal life, work ethic and experience in the semester program last year. My theme was taking the best out of each experience no matter the circumstance. Of course I used my mother as a primary inspiration (PS: It’s her birthday, today!)

I got so much positive feedback and left the campus touched. The amount of students that came up to me with questions and kind words was overwhelming – in a good way, of course! I was so happy to be of inspiration and it made me even happier to see so many attentive faces, wanting to listen to my unfinished story. Super humbling.

After the orientation and Dean’s Reception, I was free to go! I spent Wednesday to Saturday relaxing in my gorgeous and hospitable hotel, having brunch and dinner with bloggers, and taking walks in our scenic capital.

The beautiful Jasmin of Jasmin Daily and I met up for dinner at The Mission. It was so awesome seeing her! She’s one of the bloggers I met last year and it was great to reunite. I also had dinner with Buki of Style with Buki at Cuba Libre! Ah, it was great catching up – with great food, too! We talked the blog life, of course.

Friday was brunch day with Leyla of Beyond Her Curls and Jackie of The Modalista. I’ve been following both on Instagram for some time now and since I knew I was coming, we arranged a meet up! The Open City Restaurant was the place to be. Their bubbly personalities made brunch light and airy; we hit it off right away!

Saturday, I packed my bags, checked out and had brunch for one at The Firefly. Because hey, a girl needs time to soak a whirlwind of days all in.

It felt so unreal being there and I enjoyed every minute. I left feeling refreshed and relaxed. I couldn’t wait to share the details of my trip with you guys!